The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-04-29

ciai establishments going to ruin through
the social excess of one or two members,
their fortune beaten to death with ball
Players bat, or cut amidships with the
Prov OF the regatta, or going down under
the swift hoofs Of the fast horses, or
drowned in the Large rotations OF cognac
or Monongahe,a. That secret society was
the Loeb Earn. Their business was the
Wills do Havre. They struck, and the
Vile de Hsvre went under.
The third test by which you may know
whether the society to which you belong
is good or bad is this: What is its effect
on your sense Of moral and re-
lIgious obligation! Now, il I should
take the names OF all the people in
this audience this morning and put
them On roll, and then should Law that
roll back Of this organ. and hundred
years from now some one should take that
roll and call it from A to z there would
not one Of you answer. say tina: any So
ciety that makes N, forget that fact is bad
society. When 60 to Chicago am some
times perplexed at Buffalo, as 1 suppose
many travellers are. as to whether it is
better to take the Lake Shore route or the
Michigan Central equally expeditions and
eq ually safe, getting to their destination
a. the same time. But suppose that
hear that on one route the track is torn
up, the bridges are down and the switches
are unlocked. it will not take me q great
while to decide which road to take.
Now, there are two roads in the future
the Christian AMI the unchristian, the
safe and tine unsafe. Any institution or
any association that confuses my IDEAS in
regard to that fact is a bad institution and
a bad association. I had prayers before
Joined that society; did I have them af-
terwardl l attended the house Of God
before l connected myself with that
union; do absent myself from religious
influences! Which would you rather
have in your hand when you com. to die
"a pack Of cards or Bible. Which
would you rather have pressed to your
lips in the closing morlent-the cup Of
Belshazzarean wassail or the chnlce of
Christian communion. Who would you
rather have for your pall-bearers-the
elders Of Christian church
or the companions whose con-
versation was full of slang
and Innuendol Who would Won rather
have for your eternal companions-those
men who spend their evenings betting,
gambling, swearing, carousing and tell.
ing vile stories, or your little child that
bright little girl whom the Lord took! Oh,
you would not have been away so much
nights, would you, il you had known she
was going away so soon! Dear me, your
house has never been the same place
since. Your wife mas never frightened
W, she has never got over it. She will
never get overit. How long the evenings
arr with no one to pu: to bed and no
A-n R.,y Il
stories.
What pity 1t is that you can not spend
more evenings at hoTe in trying to help
her bear that sorrow. You can never
drown that grief in a wine cup You can
never break awav from the little arms
that used TO be flung around your neck
when she used to say:
Papa. do stay with ne tonight. Do
stay with me tonight
You will never be able to wipe away
from your lips the dying kiss OF your lit
tie girl The fascination Of a bad secret
has turned his back on his home when his
child was dying Of scarlet fever. He
went away. Before he got back at
midnight the eyes had been closed,
the undertaken had done his work,
and the wife, worn out with three weeks
lay unconscious in the next
room. Then the returned father comes
and he sees the cradle gone
and the windows up. and says:
"What's the matter"
On the Judgment day he will find out
what was the matter.
On, man astray, God help you! I am
going to make a very stout rope. You
know that sometimes a rope-maker will
take very small threads and wind them
until after awhile they become
ship cable. And am going to take some
very small, delicate threads and wind
them together until they make q
very stout rope. / will take all the
Of the marriage day-a thread
Of laug liter, a thread Of light, a thread of
music, a thread of banqueting, thread |
Of congratulatiOn, aud l twist them to- !
gether and / have one strand. Then ] |
axe n thread of the hour of the first adj |
rent in your house. a thread OF the dark. |
ness that preceded. and thread OF the !
light that followed. and thread of the |
beautiful scarf that little child used to |
wear when she bounded out az eventide |
10 greet you, and then q thread of the |
beautiful dress in which you laid her away /
For the resurrection; and then twist all /
theso threads together, and l have !
another strand. Then take a thread |
If tie scarlet robe of SUI. |
fering Christ, and thread o. |
he white raiment Of your loved ones be.
fore the throne, and string Of the harp
and q string Of the harp seraph-
C, and l twist them ali together, and
lave third strand.
''Oh." you say. ''either strand is enough |
% hold fast a worlir'
No: / viii take these strands and / wiz
wist them together, and one end Of that
-ope l will fasten, not 20 the communion
able, Tor it shall be removed; not to
pillar CT the organ, for that will crumble
n the ages; but l wind it round and
'ourd the cross OF a sym pathizing Christ,
nd having fastened one en- Of the rope
o the cross, throw the other end to you
Lay hold of it! Pull for your life! Pull
or Heaven!
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